Mike Boswell
Contributor
My wife and I just got back from two wonderful weeks in Fiji, where we dove in Taveuni, in Beqa Lagoon (including the shark dive), and at Volivoli. We had a wonderful time, the diving was excellent, and the dive operators were very professional. There were a couple of things I wanted to share:
First, after every dive, the dive master asked each diver to provide their dive time and max depth, and then each diver had to sign their initials on their entry. At first I supposed that this was a liability protection, but after thinking about it, I realized that this also served as a very good way to make sure all of the divers were back on the boat. I suppose the dive profile information could also be useful if one of the divers later became ill.
The other point I want to share is that on far too many occasions, the tanks provided to the divers had short fills, valve leaks, or bad yoke O-rings. If the leaks were bad enough we could hear it on the boat and we had the O-rings replaced, but on several dives the leak wasn't audible on the boat, and we had the annoying experience of conducting a dive with a leaky, hissing yoke connection. For our next trip I am thinking of taking a spray bottle filled with diluted dish soap, so I can use it as a mask defog and to check my tank connection before each dive.
First, after every dive, the dive master asked each diver to provide their dive time and max depth, and then each diver had to sign their initials on their entry. At first I supposed that this was a liability protection, but after thinking about it, I realized that this also served as a very good way to make sure all of the divers were back on the boat. I suppose the dive profile information could also be useful if one of the divers later became ill.
The other point I want to share is that on far too many occasions, the tanks provided to the divers had short fills, valve leaks, or bad yoke O-rings. If the leaks were bad enough we could hear it on the boat and we had the O-rings replaced, but on several dives the leak wasn't audible on the boat, and we had the annoying experience of conducting a dive with a leaky, hissing yoke connection. For our next trip I am thinking of taking a spray bottle filled with diluted dish soap, so I can use it as a mask defog and to check my tank connection before each dive.